How to Survive WSET Level 3 Without Crying Every Day
If you’ve landed on this post, you’re probably either in a full-blown WSET Level 3 spiral or wondering if it’s worth it. Either way, breathe. You’ve got this.
I took the WSET Level 3 course online through Napa Valley Wine Academy and passed with merit. It’s a 10-week crash course in everything from how wine is made to why people spend too much money on Burgundy. The book is massive compared to Level 2 and the SAT (systematic approach to tasting) adds new terms like medium plus and medium minus, which sound silly at first but will be your best friends by the end.
The exam? A blind tasting of one red and one white, 50 multiple choice questions, and four short answer questions that are really more like sixteen once they’re broken down. You need 55% in both tasting and theory to pass, so don’t rely on your palate to carry you through.
Read the dang book! Then read it again.
I said this in my WSET level 2 guide, and I’ll say it louder this time. You need to read the book at least three times. The first time is for assignments. The second is for actually learning. The third is for locking it in. Repetition helps your brain say, “Oh hey, we’ve seen this before” instead of “What the hell? What the helly?”
Pick your exam date with your sanity in mind.
Give yourself time. I waited two months after the course ended, and honestly, I should’ve done three. If you’re working full-time or just have a life outside of wine flashcards, plan for at least three or four months post-course. You can reschedule, but it costs money, and so does wine, so…
Flashcards are your new love language.
Everything is testable. Every. Thing. That means you’ll probably need a mountain of flashcards. I used Quizlet and also paid $10/month for Brainscapes WSET Level 3 deck. Worth. Every. Penny. Those 1,900 flashcards helped me fly through multiple choice and gave me more time to overthink the short answers.
Mock exams are where the magic happens.
I took one practice exam per week for four weeks leading up to test day. It was game-changing. One of the mock exams literally had a question that showed up word-for-word on the real thing. I paid about $30 for mock exams from ThirtyFifty and they were a total lifesaver. Failing the test costs around $250 to retake, so $30 felt like a bargain.
Taste more wine. Always taste more wine.
The Napa Valley Wine Academy online course includes a kit with 12 wines, which is nice, but it’s not enough. I tasted around 30 wines total and still only got a pass on the tasting portion. Brutal. The SAT card needs to be in your brain like your social security number. Memorize it. Recite it in the shower. Whisper it to your cat. Whatever works.
Final test day thoughts…
WSET doesn’t dock points for wrong answers, which means you should always write something. If you’re unsure on tasting notes, throw in every possible aroma you can smell. Don’t say blackberry if it’s a white, obviously, but if you think it’s citrus, list lemon, lime, grapefruit—whatever makes sense.
Same goes for the short answer section. If a question asks for five reasons why Dom Pérignon is expensive and you can only remember three, write seven. I did. It can’t hurt and it might help.
Good luck out there. You’ve got wine knowledge to gain and a certificate to flex. Go crush it.
